Former Fayetteville Police Officer Pleads Not Guilty To Rape

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Former Fayetteville Police Officer Jamison Stiles, accused of rape and sexual assault, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him at an arraignment on Wednesday (Feb. 12).

Stiles is charged with one count of rape, two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of residential burglary, records show. He also is charged with one count of "release or disclosure to unauthorized persons" in using law enforcement records for personal use in attempting to find out whether someone had a prior arrest record, prosecutors said.

Stiles' next court date is set for April 8 in Washington County Circuit Court.

On Wednesday, Stiles did not show any emotion during the brief arraignment before Magistrate Judge Ray Reynolds at the Washington County Detention Center. Stiles did not comment when 5NEWS asked him for his side of the story.

At arraignments, criminal suspects are told what they are charged with and are asked to enter a plea. Not guilty pleas are customary at arraignments, allowing the case to proceed in the judicial system.

Stiles was arrested late last year after two women came forward and told authorities he had sexually assaulted them, officials said.

The first report came on Nov. 10, when a woman told Fayetteville police an officer sexually assaulted her, according to court documents. She told police that in late October she woke up naked in her apartment at The Cliffs II after a night of drinking to a uniformed officer standing over her. The officer then pulled the blanket covering her down and grab her breast, according to a preliminary report from the Washington County prosecuting attorney.

Police said an internal investigation was then launched.

According to the preliminary report, Stiles and another officer had stopped an intoxicated woman on Block Avenue just minutes after midnight on Oct. 26. The woman was placed in Stiles’ patrol car. That’s when the other officer left the scene, according to Fayetteville Police Sgt. Craig Stout.

The preliminary report states Stiles told the woman he was “trying his best not to arrest her.” He then asked the woman if someone was at her house so he could just take her home. She told Stiles that she lived alone. That’s when Stiles turned off his police vehicle video recorder, according to the preliminary report.

Stout said that it is against policy for a police officer to ever turn off his recorder.

Investigators found that Stiles’ recorder was turned off again around the time the woman reported the officer to be in her apartment. Authorities used GPS data to place Stiles’ patrol car near The Cliffs II Apartments during the time his recorder was turned off, according to Stout.

Stiles, who lived at The Cliffs II, was given a master key to the apartment complex in his role as courtesy officer there, Stout said.

On behalf of The Cliffs II Apartments, Lindsey Management Co. issued a statement on Dec. 23, saying Stiles’ services as a courtesy officer ended there on Nov. 30. He worked there on an independent contractor basis, the statement says.

Investigators interviewed Stiles Dec. 3 concerning the allegations against him. The next day, he was placed on administrative leave and relieved of his badge and gun pending the outcome of the internal investigation, according to a police department news release.

On Dec. 16, Stiles was fired from the police department for eight policy violations, police said.

Stiles had been employed by the Fayetteville Police Department for almost three years before being fired, Stout said.

After his termination, a former Fayetteville Police Department dispatcher reported she had also been sexually assaulted at her home by Stiles this past July. She said Stiles was on-duty and in uniform at the time of the alleged assault, according to investigators.

A second police officer, David Nguyen, was fired earlier this year in the Stiles case for failing to report to supervisor that the dispatcher told him Stiles had sexually assaulted her, according to a police department internal investigation released on Feb. 11.